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How to Exercise The Eyes: The First Steps

The following vision tips will help you to exercise the eyes in everyday life before beginning a vision training program like Rebuild Your Vision.

These vision training tips may help you prevent any further deterioration in your eyesight, giving you a fighting chance to see clearly, naturally.

They form the warm-up to a proper eye exercise routine and are essential to good vision health.

I found all of these tips in the Rebuild Your Vision program. This is a good taster if you are feeling hesitant about committing to vision training.

Vision Tip #1 – Stop Wearing Glasses (or Downgrade)

The first rule of vision training is that you stop wearing your glasses full time, and only resort to them when you absolutely need them (such as driving).

For instance, if you are nearsighted, why use your minus lenses to read books or talk to someone face to face? Your close-up vision is good! Unfortunately, wearing your glasses in these circumstances increases the near point stress on your eyes and you will find your range of focus becomes shorter and shorter.

Alternatively, if you can’t give up your glasses, obtain a weaker pair that still give you clear vision but no longer overpowers your visual system. More on this below.

The reason we must do this is because scientific studies show that wearing corrective lenses makes vision worse over time:

How Glasses Make Your Natural Vision Worse

Dr Earl Smith of the University of Houston College of Optometry fitted various types of corrective lenses on monkeys with normal vision. He found that within weeks, monkeys fitted with nearsighted lenses adapted to the lenses and became nearsighted. Likewise, monkeys with farsighted lenses became farsighted. The same thing happened with lenses designed for astigmatism.

The implications of this study are huge – not least because humans and monkeys have almost identical visual systems. You have probably noticed the effect yourself when you get a new pair of eye glasses. Your vision appears ultra-clear and you have to get used to the stronger lenses. Then, within days, they feel normal and are eventually too weak altogether.

And it’s not just monkeys that can demonstrate the damaging effect of glasses and contact lenses. Here are a couple more examples of real-life studies:

How Glasses Fatigue Your Eyes

“There are frequently ignored patterns of addiction to minus lenses.
The typical prescription tends to overpower and fatigue the visual
system and what is often a transitory condition becomes a lifelong
situation which is likely to deteriorate with time.” S. Gallop (1994) Journal of Behavioral Optometry

How Glasses Increase Near Point Stress

“Minus lenses are the most common approach, yet the least likely to
prevent further myopic progression. Unfortunately, they increase
the near point stress that is associated with progression.” B. May (1984) Optometric Extension Program Foundation

Right now, you probably wear your glasses all day, every day. This means you never exercise the eyes naturally like people with 20/20 vision can daily.

At first, I found the world very fuzzy with my nearsightedness and astigmatism. But within a few hours, I found my eyesight was actually clearer, especially in the sunlight. It’s amazing how well your eyes can function if you give them the chance.

If your vision is so bad that you can’t do anything without glasses, then revert to an old pair or get a pair of weaker glasses online. For more information, read my article about obtaining weaker glasses to support your vision training.

Vision Tip #2 – Don’t Read with Long Distance Glasses

This is important damage control for people with nearsightedness or astigmatism. Reading up-close materials through your long distance glasses creates near-point stress – and this can be a major cause of shortsightedness. It can also make your vision deteriorate even faster.

So, while you should only be wearing your glasses when you absolutely need them, be extra cautious of reading or using a computer with them on.

If you can’t see the computer screen at work without your glasses, bring yourself closer to the monitor.

If that makes you hunch, then sit up straight and increase the size of the fonts by holding down Control and rolling your mouse wheel forward.

If you still can’t see, get a weaker pair of prescription glasses which give you 20/40 acuity at 20 inches. Or wear an old, weaker pair.

If you ignore this tip, it will be so much harder to improve your vision naturally with eye exercises, because you will be undoing all your hard work each day!

Vision Tip #3 – Wear an Eye Patch

This is a great way for anyone to exercise the eyes without even thinking about it. Buy a cheap eye patch from your local drugstore and wear it for one hour a day for reading, watching TV or playing. (Don’t wear it for driving, cooking, walking down the street, or any other potentially hazardous activity.)

Wearing an eye patch can help improve your vision in your weaker eye as it forces it to work harder on its own. So if one eye is stronger, cover it up more.

Vision Tip #4 – Exercise The Eyes

Becoming less dependent on your usual glasses or contact lenses is the first part of the equation. This will form the foundation of your vision training, giving your eyes all the freedom they need to adjust themselves naturally.

The second part of the equation is based on eye exercises. They can test the full range of your eyesight on a daily basis, giving them the opportunity to focus on near and far objects, coordinate together and relax properly at the end.

According to Rebuild Your Vision, most vision disorders are caused by refractive errors, caused by bad vision habits and chronic eye strain. Eye exercises teach you to undo these habits and get your eyesight back into shape, so that you can see clearly without glasses. Learn more here.

Improve Your Vision – Naturally

Eye exercises must be the best kept secret in optometry.

It’s a tragedy that we are brainwashed into wearing glasses (which studies show weaken vision over time) or having LASIK eye surgery (which comes with real risks like corneal damage).